


Resignation

by prima_facie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Post Season 2, ghosts???, slightly angsty but it's fine i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 03:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11153265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prima_facie/pseuds/prima_facie
Summary: Post-Season 2"Why didn’t anyone tell me that Lance was out of the medical bay?”All of them stared at Keith from the table.Lance, from his spot on the floor, turned to Keith upon hearing his name.Pidge scrunched her nose. “Because he’s not, Keith.”Struggling with the loss of Shiro was taking a toll on Keith and he wasn’t ready to lose another paladin so soon.Except that paladin is right there, in plain sight, or at least so he thought.





	Resignation

Every night since Shiro’s disappearance was exactly the same.

Panic.

Panic.

Panic.

Each time when the nightmare ended, Keith woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up immediately only to be reassured that he was in fact alone and in his bed. He was still in the Castle of Lions. His blanket had been tossed to the floor.

Slowly he reminded himself of what was real, what was not. He got up from his bed to take a shower.

It wasn’t like he was sleeping anymore tonight.

 

The atmosphere, their feelings, their actions, the air, all of it could be captured succinctly in one word: heavy.

With Shiro gone, no one had been feeling quite right, and matters had been made worse by their inability to form Voltron.

Yes, Zarkon was dead, but something was amiss and all of them knew it. They were able to complete simple scouting missions or interceptions of cargo without the Black Lion, but it was only a matter of time until they were going to be hit by something none of them could handle as a team let alone individually.

 

But before they could even begin to rework their team structure, the accident happened.

 

After utilizing the early morning on the training deck, it was time for breakfast. Keith was the last one to walk into the dining room. Everyone was already sitting at the table with their respective bowls of food goo in silence. Three seats were open, one for Keith, one for Shiro who was missing, and one for Lance.

Keith stared at the empty seats for a moment before walking and taking his place.

It had been this way now, for a week.

 

On the seventh day, Keith walked into the room joining the rest of the paladins for dinner. He could only spend so much time between not sleeping and the training deck.

Keith looked over. Three seats, all empty.

Something in the corner caught his eye and he looked over to the side away from the table towards the windows. Sitting over there within plain sight of the team was Lance, his knees pulled up close to his chest.

Like a firecracker, Keith sparked and turned his attention to his teammates shouting. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that Lance was out of the medical bay?”

All of them stared at Keith from the table.

Lance, from his spot on the floor, turned to Keith upon hearing his name.

Pidge scrunched her nose. “Because he’s not, Keith.”

Keith was shouting, pointing at Lance. “He’s literally right over there. Is this a joke?”

Lance stood up and started walking towards the exit.

Keith’s eyes followed him. “Hey, where are you going?”

Lance, his back still turned, shrugged his shoulders. Before Keith could watch him go, his spun around at the sound of his name.

Allura was frowning, her eyes filled with concern. “Keith, I know it’s been stressful for you. Maybe… maybe you should lie down for a bit, take it easy.”

Hunk nodded. “I’ll bring you some food in a little bit, man.”

Keith, unable to hide his frustration, left the room.

This must have been one cruel joke. Keith slammed his fist into the wall and sighed. Maybe they just weren’t paying attention. Or maybe, and Keith shook his head at this, maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Keith continued his walk to his room. Laying down didn’t hurt anyone. (But he couldn’t tell them that he didn’t sleep anymore.)

The door to his room slid open, and Keith blinked. Once. Twice.

Lance was sitting on his bed, and waved when he saw Keith. “Hey there, stranger.”

If steam could come out of Keith’s ears, now would be the time. He marched over towards Lance. “What are you doing here? Lance. I am going to drag you out of here to show everyone that you’re okay. That I’m not-- ” Keith reached for him.

“I wouldn’t do that---“

His hand passed through him, met with no resistance, just empty space, and a chilling temperature. Keith pulled back his hand instinctively.

“Yeah, see. This is what I’m trying to tell you.”

“My mind is playing tricks on me.”

“Right, that’s an option. There’s another one too, I’ll have you know.”

“You are not a ghost.”

“What? You don’t believe in ghosts?”

Keith shook his head, his gaze meeting Lance’s for the first time. He held his eyes there, squinting. Lance wasn’t exactly transparent.

He wasn’t exactly opaque either.

“It’s not that I don’t believe in ghosts, Lance. It’s just that…”

He took a deep breath.

“It’s just that, I don’t believe that you’re one… a ghost that is.”

Lance shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know what to tell you.”

“Lance… you’re not dead.”

And it was then, for the first time, that Lance stopped smirking. He lowered his gaze to the floor for a split second before folding his arms together, almost protectively.

If Keith had even so much as moved, he wouldn’t have heard him say it.

“I might as well be.”

 

“At first, I thought that maybe this was an out of body experience.”

Keith was at the observation deck, Lance standing next to him.

“I showed up maybe seven days ago, I heard you guys mention that I had stabilized. And I had tried so hard to get your attention, shouting, I’m right here. I’m right here.

“And it was probably then that I realized that in addition to all of you, I was also looking at myself, floating away in a healing pod. Imagine my surprise.

“So I thought, okay. This is just one of those things, I’ll float around for a bit. And then bam, I’ll find myself in my own body waking up from a fuzzy dream.”

Lance started to tap his foot on the ground. Keith watched the movement, how natural it was. There was no sound.

Lance continued. “After I guess, about the third day, I couldn’t take being around you guys anymore. I’ve been sitting in the hanger with Blue.” He half smiled. “Even though I’m a ghost, she can still tell I’m there.”

Keith kept watching Lance’s foot. “So… why were you in the dining room yesterday?”

Lance let out a weak laugh. “I was lonely and I just wanted to hear some voices. Imagine my surprise when my buddy Keith can see me.”

“You didn’t even say anything.”

“There wasn’t any point. You saw it yourself. No one else can see me. It’s a miracle you can, really. Looky here, Keith. You are seeing your first ever ghost!”

And while something like that should have ordinarily made Keith a very happy man, those words just left him feeling even more isolated.

 

They were walking down the hallway to breakfast.

“Do you always get up this early, Keith? It’s no wonder we miss each other in the morning, and the afternoon for that matter.”

Lance didn’t actually have to simulate the act of the walking, but something about it was oddly comforting.

It made Keith feel like he was actually next to him, actually someone he could reach out to and touch.

“For the record, I don’t think you slept last night.”

“I’m a ghost, remember?”

“You watched me fall asleep.”

“Hey but you slept, right? First time, that’s happened in a while? Looks like my security tactic of protection, worked!”

“Do you ever stop talking?”

“Anyway, after you fell asleep, I went wandering for a bit. Pidge doesn’t sleep at night, so I usually sit behind her and just watch.”

Keith nodded as the door slid open. “What does she do all night?”

“Research, programming, learning a new language? I’m not actually sure. It’s a little difficult to keep up when you can’t ask questions.”

Keith frowned and spoke under his breath, “I’m sorry, Lance.”

Hunk was sitting at the table with Coran. Both of them stopped talking when Keith walked in the room.

“Hey, I came by your room last night and dropped off dinner. Did you get it?”

Keith nodded, “Yes, thank you.”

Coran stretched his arms before standing. A cracking sound could be heard. “Yikes, I think that was my back.” He hunched over for a second before straightening himself out. “I’m going to go and check on Lance’s status. I’ll be sure to update you boys, later.”

Hunk watched him go, and he avoided looking at Keith directly, unsure of what to say.

Hey, I looked around for you after you weren’t in your room. I saw you in the observation deck talking to yourself.

Keith, I know this is hard, and I want you to know I’m here for you.

I know this sucks. Shiro is missing, your anchor, and Lance isn’t with us, your support.

But instead, Hunk said none of those things, and eyed Keith carefully. When Keith sat down, he handed him a bowl of goo. “Be careful with that. Coran spiced it up when I wasn’t looking, and you might not find it very tasty.”

Keith put a spoonful in his mouth. His face contorted instantly and Lance started laughing in earnest.

“Shut up, Lance.”

Hunk turned around from the counter. “Did you say something?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Lance smirked. “No can see me, Keith. Better watch out where you talk to me.” Lance may have been smiling at Keith but his eyes were fixed on Hunk.

Keith poked at his food in silence.

 

“Pidge, what would you do if you were being haunted?”

She looked up from her computer screen at Keith for a moment before returning back to the screen. “I’d perform an exorcism, I guess. You know, only if it was really bothering me. Or maybe if I felt that they really needed to pass on.”

“Okay well, what if they’re not dead?”

Pidge pushed her glasses up, and scooted away from the screen before looking at Keith. She wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t really doing much of anything with her face.

To some it might look like pity, but really it was just concern. Concern for her teammate who hadn’t been adjusting to change, who hadn’t been taking any of this well, but was putting on the strongest face for all of them.

She wasn’t surprised to see him cracking now. It was only a matter of time. “This is about Lance isn’t it?”

Lance was floating behind Pidge shaking his head to Keith. “I wouldn’t do that. They already think you’re crazy.”

“Maybe I am.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s just a hypothetical, Pidge.”

“Maybe something is keeping them out here. That might be worth finding out.”

He smiled softly at her. “Thank you.”

As Keith left he could hear Pidge calling out to him. “If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

And that was enough.

 

Allura looked pained in the evening after calling all of them together in the control room. She knew what she wanted to address and had no way of really knowing how. It was a delicate situation, and she was prepared to hear them yell at her.

So it shocked her when no one said anything in response.

“In light of… recent events, I’d like to see if maybe one of the other paladins could try to pilot the Red Lion.”

Keith twitched but said nothing.

She continued. “Because I’m connected to the ship and therefore the Lions, I should be able to pilot some of the more docile ones. That includes… the Blue Lion.”

Once again, no one said anything, audible that is. Keith refused to look up. Lance was making a disgruntled face behind him. “Blue loves me, what is this presumed betrayal?”

“I’ve yet to try it, and it may take some work.” (Damn right, it’s going to take some work.) “But, as you know, Keith can pilot the Black Lion. So, I was wondering if perhaps, we could go through a run through of it, maybe, just to see.”

Lance floated around the room, still grumpy.

But Keith knew he was faking it, and had nothing to say.

Pidge spoke and Hunk nodded in agreement. “It’s worth giving it a test run, just to see.”

All of them moved to the red hanger to start. Pidge stood around trying to coax the lion, but the particle barrier stayed firmly up.

“Keith, can’t you tell her it’s okay?”

Keith shrugged. “I’m trying, but she doesn’t exactly listen to me.”

Hunk gave it a shot next, albeit weakly. “You know, I could try to feed you. Maybe that might help brighten your mood.”

No response.

Keith could tell that Red wasn’t being non-responsive out of spite. She just truly wasn’t interested, and perhaps being a little finicky about the fact that Keith could pilot another lion.

Everyone knew Red loved Keith.

But even Keith couldn’t convince her to take another pilot.

Lance watched all of this take place pitifully. It was almost as if he had knowledge that Keith didn’t. “Red’s ability to take another pilot kind of depends on you, Keith. She’s only going to let someone else take the reigns if she feels that you trust them completely, like they’re apart of you.”

“What do you know, anyway?”

“I just… know. I spend a lot of time in the hangers, alright? Anyway, you better watch yourself.”

The rest of the team was intently staring at Keith. He ignored their obvious stares and started walking towards another hanger. “C’mon, let’s make sure that Allura can pilot.”

 

It’s wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Allura could not get Blue to let down the barrier. Pidge and Hunk tried dancing, after all, a lion that belonged to Lance might like that.

Keith was growing increasingly frustrated. Lance hadn’t followed them from Red’s hanger. He was taking his time.

Allura sat on the ground across from the lion in a meditative pose.

Hunk folded his arm. “Maybe it’s because we’re all watching. Blue could be nervous.”

If Keith hadn’t been looking, he would have missed it. Lance was sitting by Blue’s left paw. When he got there, Keith wasn’t sure. But he could see him mouth some words.

At that moment, the barrier came down and Allura stood up in surprise.

Hunk cheered.

Pidge nodded. “Looks like you were able to do it, princess.”

She started walking towards the lion planning on checking out the cockpit. Her face gave it away, something was right. And for an instant, Keith was hoping that maybe she could see Lance too. He saw her look in Lance’s very direction, and nothing. No acknowledgment, no change in face gesture. Just steady walking.

After watching her enter the lion, Keith looked over again. Lance was gone.

 

Keith found him sitting in the center of the training deck.

“I knew you’d come here eventually, buddy.”

“Are you alright?”

Lance grimaced. “For a dead man walking, just peachy.”

Keith joined him in the center of the room and sat down beside him. He said nothing.

Lance was good at filling the silence. Lance was good at taking all the space out of a room. “I told Blue to let her be the pilot. That’s all. And she complied. I mean, not without some resistance. But both of us know, that maybe this is temporary, maybe this is permanent.” He paused. “And that it’s the right thing to do, regardless.”

Keith wanted nothing more than to wrap his arm around him and pull him close for comfort.

But he could do none of those things.

So he just sat in silence, until Lance was ready to get up.

Keith followed him out of the room, offering nothing but the comfort of steps, of sound. Lance could at least pretend for a moment that they were his own.

 

The Castle of Lions had landed on a nearby planet, somewhere that seemed mostly uninhabited, just to give everyone a test drive. Allura wanted to give herself time to learn to pilot the blue lion. And moreover, the team needed some time to figure out the way their dynamics were going to work.

Just in case.

Allura took over in her lion before any of them.

Lance smiled from the inside the castle, before taking a few cautious steps down the ramp behind Keith. “What if I’m linked to the castle? Do you think that I’ll disappear if step outside?”

Keith spoke softly, careful to not let anyone hear. “You’re a ghost, Lance. You’re in another plane of existence. I highly doubt floating around this jungle infested planet is going to make you poof out of existence. Besides…”

Lance kept walking, slowly. “Yeah?”

“You’re not dead.”

Lance had nothing to say to that.

Keith continued, “It’s possible that perhaps you’re bound by some invisible force field. Like maybe you have to be within a certain distance of your body. Tell me if you hit a wall.”

Lance kept walking, slightly worried now about hitting a wall he couldn’t see as opposed to poofing out of existence. That, in some weird way, made him feel better.

The two of them took off to exploring by themselves on foot, balancing the fascination with the vegetation with catching up to Hunk and Pidge who were both very interested in a stream that possibly had edible fish like organisms.

Keith was more interested in what was possibly a man eating plant.

Lance floated around it. “Hey, try poking it with a stick.”

Keith did that, and the plant snapped its leafy mouth as him. “Hmm, I don’t want to make it angry.”

“It’s kind of cute. A little prickly, but mostly leafy.”

“C’mon, let’s go see what Pidge found.”

The two of them joined the others at the stream. Pidge was bent over the stream intently collecting some samples. Hunk was torn between disrupting the ecosystem and finding a tasty food source. Lance had wandered somewhere, and Keith was just sitting.

If he closed his eyes, it was almost like all of them were really there. He could even feel Shiro’s presence.

Almost.

Peace doesn’t last long.

“WATCH OUT.” Lance was shouting.

Keith activated his bayard, and immediately pushed Pidge to the grow narrowly avoiding a fireball aimed in their direction.

Not even ten seconds later, and a giant lizard (dragon? No one was sure) emerged from the foliage.

And she (he?) wasn’t looking too pleased. The three of them started to run for the ship. It was only after they realized the creature wasn’t chasing them that they stopped to catch their breath.

Pidge sat down and sighed. “That might have been some sort of weird friendly fire. Keith, how did you notice?”

“I didn’t, Lance did.” Keith’s eyes widened in shock.

Lance put his palm to his face. “Seriously? Now you’ve got another problem. This would’ve been a great time to take some undeserved credit. I wouldn’t have minded, well, not mostly.”

Keith ignored his chatter and brought his hand up to his face. “I’m sorry.”

Hunk came over and wrapped his arm around him. “I know it’s hard, man. I know, it’s hard.”

 

For three weeks, Lance’s body stayed in the healing pod, and for two weeks Lance’s spirit had been following Keith. It had become a routine. Keith wakes up and Lance is there. He follows him all day, giving him privacy when needed. (Don’t worry, Keith, I’m not going to listen to you pee.) And each night, he leaves after Keith falls asleep to sit with Blue.

Ghosts don’t sleep.

In other news, Keith was finally sleeping with the weight of one less thing on his mind. Instead of worrying about Lance, his brain was fixated on what they were going to do about Shiro. There hadn’t been any team meetings since what the rest of the team had titled ‘Keith’s freak out’.

Pidge and Hunk were concerned about what they would do next time they came under assault. Last time may have only been a fluke, maybe had been the last of the Galra. Without Voltron, however, safety was comprised.

Hunk still can’t talk about the accident that put Lance out of commission.

It happened three days after Shiro disappeared, the entire team was reeling from the incident and Slav was the most frazzled in a strictly scientific sense. “What if he transcended this plane, what if he catapulted into another reality?” Calming Slav down provided a necessary distraction and the perfect segue into processing what had happened.

Instead of getting the chance to plan, their ship came under fire from what appeared to be lingering Galra ships. After the impact, four lions and their pilots immediately departed from their hangers.

Without a leader, their movements were dizzying. There hadn’t been any time to grieve and in the face of an incoming blast, for a second too long, Keith hesitated.

But Lance in his lion body slammed him out of the way taking the hit. Keith doesn’t remember what happened, but he’s told that he destroyed the three ships that were firing at them. Pidge provided support, and Hunk immediately took to the task of bringing Blue back to the castle.

No one blamed anyone for what had happened, but with one more paladin under so soon, they couldn’t bounce back. Coran took to watching over Lance the most. It was no secret that he and Lance were quite close.

Lance and his team building attitude could have held them together in Shiro’s absence, but now that was gone too.

 

Hunk went to the medical bay after their visit to the jungle to check up on Lance but also to speak with Coran.

“Coran, listen, I’m… worried about Keith. He talking to Lance.”

“Well, my boy, trying to talk to someone is a kind of comfort. Why, when I’m in here running diagnostics, I find myself talking to Lance and updating him of what’s going on just in case he can hear me. It’s not like his hearing’s gone.”

Hunk shook his head. “No, not like that. I mean, it’s like the other day. I think Keith… is hallucinating Lance?”

Coran paused and looked puzzled. “Now that, that we might have to speak further on.”

Unknown to the two of them, Lance was sitting on the edge of a bed eavesdropping.

 

Lance could have warned him, but instead he accompanied Keith to a so called ‘team meeting’. Instead, it was an intervention for Keith who had been having one too many hallucinations.

It didn’t matter if Lance had told him ahead of time, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that the entire team was worried about Keith.

It wouldn’t have changed the fact that they were going to make a decision about Lance’s medical state.

Keith knew it was a setup when he saw everyone on one side of the room minus Hunk who swiftly blocked the entrance after he arrived.

“What’s going on here guys?”

Pidge spoke up. “We’re worried about you Keith. A lot… a lot has happened.”

Allura picked it up. “And we just want… to make sure that you’re alright.”

Keith could hear them loud and clear. Underneath their worry was a subtle concern. _We don’t want you to hurt yourself. We want you to talk to us. I know you’re seeing Lance, and there’s a chance that…_

_a chance that maybe he won’t come back._

Keith didn’t have time to think about that but before he could turn around and leave he remembered that he was locked in here. Fighting Hunk to leave didn’t seem like a good idea right now.

Lance was standing directly behind Pidge making faces. “Looks like the team thinks you’ve lost it, Keith. Can’t help you there.”

“Shut up.”

Coran looked at Keith with concern. “Maybe we should do a check up. Just to make sure you haven’t been knocked around or anything.”

Keith waved his hand around ignoring the urge to glare at Lance. “It’s fine guys. I know you’re worried about me, but I know it’s going to be...” What would Shiro say? “fine. It’s going to be alright.”

Coran frowned. “There’s one other thing that I think is worth mentioning at this time. We can’t keep Lance in the pod anymore. It’s dangerous to his body so he’s been removed from the system. He’s lying down in the med bay right now.”

Both Keith and Lance stared at Coran. Then Keith stared in Lance’s direction. Why is he still here?

Coran paused and then continued. “But he’s not waking up.”

Keith turned around to leave the room and Hunk let him go.

 

Lance showed up at the training deck two hours later after Keith had already collapsed onto the floor.

“Hey there, buddy. You having fun making out with the floor?”

“Shut up, Lance. I don’t have the energy.”

Lance walked over and squatted next to Keith and attempted to poke him knowing that he couldn’t touch him. Keith flinched when he felt the cold. “I’m just here to see how you’re doing.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Hanging out with Coran in the medical bay… sort of. He was telling me, or well my body, the story of some knights he pranked in his youth. Coran’s a pretty funny guy.”

Keith said nothing, waiting for the answer to the question he didn’t ask.

“And well, I was busy floating around my body. It’s in a bed hooked up to some monitors. Good news is that I’m alive. Bad news is that I’m not sure how to get back in there.”

_I’m not sure if I’m going to get back in there at all._

Lance shrugged. “Well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” He stretched his arms out and then sprawled out on the floor next to Keith.

“How do you… how you do prevent yourself from falling into the floor?”

Lance looked over. “Really, Keith? I’ve been haunting you for this long and now you wonder about the physics of my existence. I don’t know, I just do. I guess I could sink into the floor if I wanted like how I poof through doors. But… it just doesn’t feel right.”

Keith grunted in acknowledgment. He didn’t want to talk about after, about what happens next.

Yet he knew that Lance did.

So he sat up and looked at him. “Are you… are you okay?”

“Just look at me, Keith. Do I look okay? I’m an incorporeal being pseudo floating on a floor. And to top that off, you’re the only person who can see me. And I don’t even know if any of this is real. Sometimes, I think that you’re a figment of my imagination or worse, that I’m just something you made up.”

Keith blinked, at a loss for words.

“Sometimes, I just feel this tug, you know. Like something cosmic is pulling me somewhere. And Keith,” Lance looks away. “I don’t know if I’m ready to go, what if I let it pull down and I drown? What then? What’s keeping me here anyway?”

Keith doesn’t hesitate. “I am.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to leave me. I’ve lost too much and you’re… part of my family, Lance. For the first time in a long time, I have a family and you… can’t just leave that, you can’t just leave me.”

Lance got up from the floor and stood up looking down at Keith who was seated on the floor. He was smiling. “You’re gonna be there for this handsome man when I wake up, right?”

Keith looked up and him and smiled. “Of course, Lance. I’ll be right there.”

When Keith was in his bed that night, he held Lance’s hand, or tried to at least. He fell asleep to the cold feeling enveloping his hand. As he fell asleep, he said, “I’ll see you when I wake up.”

Lance looked at him and nodded. “Of course.”

Lance wasn’t there in the morning.

He wasn’t anywhere.

 

For two days following Lance’s disappearance, Keith doesn’t leave the training deck. The rest of the team accepted it as Keith finally grieving. Hunk brings Keith food on a clockwork schedule and Pidge sits on her computer outside the training room at night to make sure that Keith is still breathing.

Keith doesn’t sleep except for the occasional 3am pass out when a gladiator has beaten him unconscious. He wants Shiro back. He wants Lance back.

Then he has to remember that Lance wasn’t truly back, that had been a ghost. At the end of the two day mark, Keith snapped to his senses. Hunk had been coming down the hallway with breakfast when he passed by Keith running in the other direction. He had to get to medical bay.

He had to wait for Lance to wake up.

As he’s running down the hallway, the alarm in the castle started to ring. Something was happening in the medical bay.

It was obvious when he arrived. Allura and Coran were standing beside Lance’s bed.

Lance was waking up.

Keith said nothing standing closer to the entrance. Having an exit strategy made him feel less anxious. Hunk and Pidge both arrived only moments later concerned for their teammate.

“Hey there, babe, how you doing? Wait… Coran! You’re not Keith!”

Coran started crying immediately and Pidge and Hunk ran over to hug Lance.

Keith took a couple steps forward to make sure, to really look at Lance. Both of them shared a look and then Keith left the room.

He would see Lance in his room later.

 

Lance came by two hours later, enough time for Keith to take a much needed shower. Lance had made himself comfortable on Keith’s bed.

Neither of them knew how to approach the conversation. Keith just stared, and then reached his hand out to touch Lance’s hand.

It was warm, and Keith fell to the floor.

“Keith, you alright?”

“I’m gonna be fine, Lance. You’re… alive and here, and that’s really all that matters right now.”

“I made it back, Keith. I made it back because I had the faith that you would be bring me back.”

Keith looked up at Lance, and then hugged him. He was warm, he was breathing.

Lance was alive.

“I’m not going anywhere, Keith. I promise.”

 

It was going to happen inevitably. A week after Lance had woken up, he was walking around the castle cracking jokes and jovial as usual. He was also ready to get down to the business of finding Shiro immediately.

Allura had brought it up during their first team meeting and Lance was game. “Of course. Might as well try.”

She wanted to know if he could pilot the Red Lion.

All of them assembled in Red’s hanger and her particle barrier was up.

Hunk shrugged. “Somehow, I doubt this is going to work.

Pidge nodded. “She really likes Keith. Are we sure this is worth trying?”

Keith folded his arms. “It isn’t exactly helping us that we have two people who can pilot Blue.”

Lance pouted. “Hey, I love Blue and she loves me. We love each other, okay? A lot! This kind of feels like cheating.”

Allura frowned. “You might as well see, Lance.”

Lance walked up to Red expecting resistance and instead didn’t need to lift a finger. The barrier came down instantly. Lance was able to pilot Red.

Allura was shocked as she had expected to hold a meeting for contingency plans.

Lance rubbed the back of his head turning back towards his teammates. “I can feel Blue in my head, guys. She’s not happy about this.”

However, Coran was positively thrilled. “Well, go on. This is fascinating! Keith must trust you a lot then for Red to warm up to you so quick, my boy. What have you two been up to lately?"

From the Red Lion's cockpit, Lance looked at Keith.

“Not much.”

Keith smiled. “Yeah, not much at all.”


End file.
